


Worse Than a Monkey's Paw

by thisissueeverybodydies



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-18 16:50:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13104423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissueeverybodydies/pseuds/thisissueeverybodydies
Summary: Lex is on trial, and it's all getting to be a bit much for poor Lena. Even her girlfriend Kara can only do so much. But idly wishing the problem away shouldn't be a problem, right? That's a thing everybody does. But not everybody happens to have someone listening...someone who can make an idle wish come true...





	Worse Than a Monkey's Paw

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rtarara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rtarara/gifts).



> Prompt from Rtarara: Lena wishes that Lex had never gone crazy. When she wakes up the next day, her wish had been granted. Her brother wasn't in jail. Her family was respected. No one was trying to hurt her. Unfortunately a sane Lex was merely a more effective one. As she looked for Kara Danvers the next day, she discovered her friend had been captured for being an alien which was now a crime. Lena visits her where she's being held and realizes that she has to find a way to make things right.

Lena switched off the news with an exhausted sigh. Her brother's trial coverage was everywhere, and seemed to be all that was ever on these days. She just couldn't cope with watching it anymore. No, that was a lie, she would carry on, she couldn't not know what was happening, but she'd had more than her fill for the day. Kara started awake on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Lena sighed as Kara sat up, blinking hard and straightening her glasses. “I’ve been terrible company tonight.”

“No, it’s fine!” Kara pushed out her best attempt at a reassuring smile. Lena raised an eyebrow at her, and her facade crumbled. Lena honestly wondered sometimes how Kara had the nerve to keep her identity a secret, especially from anyone she cared the least bit about. Kara sighed, her shoulders slumping. 

“Okay, I’m worried about you.” She put her hand on Lena’s arm and rubbed it with her thumb gently. “It seems like all you can focus on these days is the trial.” She squeezed Lena’s arm gently. “I know he’s your brother, and you care about him, but it’s not good for you to be so consumed by the coverage.” She looked away, looking almost guilty.

“And...I’m a little worried about how you’re starting to look at...him.” It just hung there, between them, for an eternity of several moments.

“Kara, I don’t...you have nothing to do with…” Lena closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and collected herself. Superman had kept a near-constant presence in the courtroom, and Lena couldn’t very well deny that it was grating on her. 

She knew that her brother’s madness was not his fault, but it was very hard not to resent the focus of his hatred, as if he would not have descended into super-criminality had Superman never landed on Earth. And his near-constant presence at the trial did nothing but remind Lena of the last time she had seen Lex in person, before he had finally and fully dropped off the deep end. Or at least gone so far as violence. She had already been unable to recognize the kind and supportive brother she remembered. All that he had had attention for was “The Kryptonian”, he hardly seemed to even notice she was there. 

“It’s not your fault, and it’s not hi-Superman’s fault.” Lena looked down and touched Kara’s hand. “He just...it feels like gloating a little. He’s always there.”

“He’s not, I promise.” Kara squeezed Lena’s arm again. “He feels responsible for how everything happened.” Kara also looked down at their hands. “But I...can see how it could feel that way. I’m sorry.”

“I hate all of this, Kara.” Lena leaned back on the couch. “He used to have so much good in him, I can’t stand that it all seems to be gone. I wish I still had the brother I remembered. I wish you could have known him the way he used to be.” She sighed heavily and turned to look at Kara. “And this has been the worst date night ever. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Kara, smiling just a little. Lena made another skeptical face at her. “No, it really is. I understand.” She leaned in and kissed Lena softly. “Besides, I don’t think distraction is what you really need right now.” She shifted closer and wrapped her arms around Lena. “I think what you need is someone who loves you to hold you and tell you that tomorrow will be a little better, and then the next day will be a little better, and you won’t be alone for any of it.”

Lena leaned her head against Kara’s and nodded. 

“That sounds good.”

* * *

Kara Zor-El’s senses were extremely powerful, there was no denying it. Had she wanted to, she could have listened in on nearly any conversation in National City from where she lay in bed with Lena Luthor that night. And had she so desired, she could have read the instructions printed on any panel in the moon lander sitting in the Sea of Tranquility on the moon floating above them, again from the bed in which she lay. But as powerful as she was, Kara Zor-El’s senses were limited to three dimensions, and so she was completely unaware of the being that had been listening in on their conversation, and just as ignorant as her girlfriend of the amusement and plans forming in the mind of the being.

_**The brother she remembered, eh? Now this could be fun…** _

* * *

The usual sleepily affectionate nuzzle from Kara was absent the next morning when the alarm went off. Lena rolled over with a grin, fully prepared to tease her girlfriend about sleeping through the alarm, but she was gone. Lena frowned and sat up. Kara’s outfit for the morning, always hung on the closet door in advance, was also missing, and there didn’t seem to be any evidence that she had had to take off in a hurry as Supergirl.

“What?” Lena mumbled to herself. “No good-bye even?” 

“Good morning, Ms. Luthor,” her assistant piped cheerily over the intercom set on her nightstand. “Your latte and breakfast are on the way, and will be ready for you by the time you’re out of the shower.”

“Jess, did you see Kara leave?” There was a pause for several moments. “Jess?”

“Kara, Ms. Luthor?”

“Yes, Kara. She stayed here last night. Do you know when she left?” Another pause, and Lena felt herself growing unusually irritated with her assistant.

“I’m...sorry, Ms. Luthor, but the visitor logs don’t seem to show any visitors last night.” 

“Well I think we need to have a talk with security, Jess.” Lena slid over to the edge of the bed. “I know she’s on my top tier list, but they should still be logging her in.”

“Ms. Luthor...there isn’t anyone named Kara on any of your lists.” Lena could practically hear the nervous hesitation. “May I ask...what her last name is?”

“Jess, come on, this isn’t funny. You know her, Kara Danvers!”

“Danvers? Do you mean...Kara Zor-El?” Lena’s breath caught in her throat. 

“Jess, come in here. Right now please.”

A few brief moments later, Jess appeared, holding her tablet in front of her. To her credit, Lena only knew she was scared because Jess had worked for her for so long. Her facade was nearly perfect.

“Yes, Ms. Luthor?”

“How do you know that name?” Lena stood up.

“Everybody knows her name, Ms. Luthor,” Jess said softly. “And her cousin’s. Your brother wanted to be sure they wouldn’t be able to disappear again.” 

“This doesn’t…” Lena rubbed her forehead. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Ms. Luthor, are you feeling alright?” Jess stepped forward.

“No, definitely not. This can’t be right.” She sat back down on the bed, hard. 

“I can clear your schedule for today and screen your calls.” In an instant, Jess was back in her comfort zone, tapping away at her tablet, but Lena barely heard a word she was saying, leaning forward, holding her head in her hands. “There are no meetings today that can’t wait a few days, and you’re not expecting to hear from anyone today who you’ll really need to talk to.” She glanced up. “Of course if your brother calls…” Jess looked up briefly. “I’m sure I can come up with something.” She tapped her tablet a few more times, then knelt down in front of Lena. “Is there anything I can get for you, Ms. Luthor?” She hesitantly reached out and touched Lena’s arm. 

“No.” Lena looked up quickly. “No, thank you Jess. I think the stress has just been getting to me. I probably just...need a day to myself.” She took a deep breath and stood up. “I think a shower is just what I need right now.”

“Of course.” Jess stood up as well and took a step back. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do or get for you today, and I hope you get to relax.” She gave Lena an understanding smile as she turned towards the door. “After all, you don’t get a lot of time to relax as the CEO of LexCorp.”

* * *

After her shower, Lena sat down and turned on the news, not expecting it to be any more right than anything else had yet been that morning. She did not have to wait long for confirmation. 

_Senator Lex Luthor, chairman and founder of the Senate Interplanetary Affairs Committee, made an appearance at the re-election campaign of Pennsylvania Governor Natalie Burke yesterday. Following his recent appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire, the consensus among experts is that the question is no longer if he will be announcing a run for the Presidency, but when._

Lena took a deep breath. This was certainly a far cry from the news she remembered the day before, and she was having a hard time processing such a humongous change. 

_Senator Luthor is of course best known for writing the Defense of Earth Act, at the time one of the most controversial bills in living memory. While many at the time believed the bill to be political suicide, due to its proposed crackdown on vigilante justice that made Superman and many other beloved public figures potential criminals, it has proven to be the cornerstone of Senator Luthor’s public platform. In recent months, the elevation of the formerly covert Department of Extranormal Operations to an elite task force now known as the Human Defense Corps has resulted in increased military recruitment and an increased sense of safety, according to recent polls. Senator Luthor has claimed credit for these effects, and it seems likely that it will form the central pillar of a potential Presidential campaign. However, there are still many who consider Senator Luthor equally responsible for the resulting arrests and imprisonment of Superman and Supergirl. Will they be enough to threaten a Presidential run? We took to the street to-_

Lena shut the television off and stood up. With nowhere to go and no idea what to do, however, she began to pace. Her mind was racing, it all seemed impossible. What she needed was more information. She sat down at her desk and set her laptop aside. On a hunch, she touched a panel on the bottom drawer of her desk, which was without a handle. After a moment, the panel lit up green and the drawer popped open. Lena nodded and smiled to herself. Whatever was going on, this was at least still her desk. She pulled out her personal laptop, which she had had encrypted more securely than even the company’s machines working on Top Secret projects, and started researching. An hour later, she pressed the button of the intercom unit at her desk.

“Yes, Ms. Luthor?” Jess’ voice chimed immediately, as if she’d been hovering over her end of the intercom. 

“I need a flight to Antarctica,” she said simply. “And I need you to come with me.” Jess paused for only a fraction of a second.

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.”

The helicopter flight from McMurdo Base in Antarctica to The Slab was, in a word, unpleasant. The winds were high enough that the pilot had to visibly concentrate, and while Lena was uncomfortable, she could tell that Jess was in imminent danger of succumbing to nausea. Jess clutched the airsickness bag, her tablet stashed safely away in her own bag, and was clearly trying her hardest to maintain a regular breathing pattern. Lena put a hand on Jess’ shoulder, rubbing gently. 

“We’re almost there,” she called into her headset. “Hang on.” Jess nodded quickly, swallowing hard.

Jess was off the helicopter the moment the door was opened for them, hunching over and taking in deep breaths of the frigid air.

“I think I’d rather swim back, Ms. Luthor,” she croaked after a few moments. Lena smiled at her, knowing that if she was able to make a joke like that, she would be okay soon. She supported her assistant until she was breathing normally again, and they proceeded inside.

The security to enter the prison was beyond tight. The metal detector they had to go through was sensitive enough that it found the lone coin Jess had missed in her pocket, and they even sent the coin through the scanner to be scrutinized individually.

They were met on the other side of the security line by a man in a suit. He matched the information Jess had found on file for the warden, Frank Vaughn. Lena reflected on what sort of man would wear a suit to work on an artificial island prison on which he both lived and worked, and decided she already did not like how prisoners here were likely being treated.

“I’m here to see Kara D-” Lena caught herself. “Kara Zor-El.”

“Ms. Luthor,” the man began slowly. “We weren’t expecting you. I’m afraid our Level One prisoners require extra security measures for any visitors, especially such...important visitors. We need more time in order to properly ensure your safety.”

“No,” she retorted. “You don’t.” She turned to Jess.

“One of the primary security features of your facility is the distributed security system, which is capable of delivering multiple suppression measures at the same time, customized to the abilities and weaknesses of the inmate,” she recited promptly. Warden Vaughn’s jaw clenched visibly.

“And how do we know that, Jess?” Lena smiled at Warden Vaughn.

“LexCorp designed it, Ms. Luthor.” 

“So unless there is some kind of unreported problem in the system, which should have been reported to us, it should be no trouble to arrange a meeting without further delay.” Warden Vaughn’s face reddened, but he nodded. 

After a brief wait, Lena was ushered into a small meeting room bathed in red light. Kara was waiting inside, bound in heavy shackles, and it was immediately obvious why Warden Vaughn had tried to stall. Just at first glance, Lena could see the remnants of several bruises of different ages and a recently split and swollen lip. It was also apparent that her nose had been broken at least once. The evidence of Kara’s mistreatment made Lena’s blood boil, but that didn’t stop her heart from leaping at the immediate change in Kara’s posture and expression when she saw that it was Lena who had come to see her. 

“Lena! Do you…” she trailed off, and took a deep breath, visibly steeling herself. “Do you...remember? The way it’s supposed to be?”

“Yes,” Lena replied softly, and Kara relaxed. “But be careful what you say here, we’re probably being watched.”

“Definitely,” Kara replied wryly, reaching up with restrained hands to touch her swollen lower lip gingerly. “I got this this morning for ‘looking too hard’ at the control console in my cell block. Doesn’t seem to matter that I don’t have my powers, trying to use them is very not allowed.”

“I...don’t know what to do, Kara,” whispered Lena. “I don’t know how to flip a switch and change the entire world around us.” She clenched her jaw looking at Kara’s injuries. “And I can’t live with things the way they are.” She swallowed, looking down at the floor between them. “I wish…” She paused, frowning, and looked up at Kara, who met her eyes.

“You wished last night,” Kara said softly. “That has to be it.”

“Kara, that...doesn’t make any sense.” Lena frowned. “The entire world doesn’t change because someone makes a wish.”

“Not just, no. But someone could have been listening.”

“Who?” Lena frowned. The world that yesterday she thought she had had a fairly firm grasp on was making much less sense, and it only seemed to be getting worse.

“I…” Kara glanced up at one of the cameras in the room. “I’m not sure. But maybe you could ask someone. Do you remember, I once told you who used to be our _family doctor_?”

Lena nodded. She opened her mouth to reply, and a banging came from the door behind Kara. 

“Time’s up!”

Lena scowled, but Kara held up a hand only slightly. 

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I’ll be okay…”

Lena stood as they led Kara away, and she felt a lump form in her throat. As she returned to Jess, and they boarded the helicopter back to Antarctica, Lena tried very hard not to wonder if Kara would still be alive by the time she managed to return.

* * *

By the time Lena and Jess landed in Metropolis, Jess had already arranged an appointment for Lena with Dr. Emil Hamilton. It hadn’t been hard, Hamilton was no longer the top scientist at STAR Labs, but rather a professor at Metropolis Technical Community College. 

Dr. Hamilton stood as Lena entered his office, looking grave. 

“I must say, Ms. Luthor,” he began. “I rather expected that the next time I heard from your family it would be the Human Defense Corps come to arrest me for crimes against the Human Race.”

“I can understand that.” Lena nodded uncomfortably. “But I’m here to ask for your help.” Before he could immediately refuse, she pressed on. “It’s on behalf of Supergirl. And Superman.”

“How is it, Ms. Luthor, that you can ask anything on their behalf, given your complicity in their current situation?” Lena took a deep breath.

“This...isn’t the way things are supposed to be.” Lena eyed Dr. Hamilton carefully, expecting some kind of argument, but he just watched her.

“I remember a different world,” she continued, and went on to tell her story. Dr. Hamilton listened patiently, and even began to nod along.

“Yes, this is consistent with experiences Superman has had in the past,” confirmed Dr. Hamilton when she had finished. “I think it most likely the work of Mr. Mxyzptlk. It fits the level of his abilities, although he usually prefers to taunt more directly.”

“Mxyzptlk…” Lena rubbed her forehead. “Kara told me something about him, he tried to get her to marry him a little while ago…”

“That’s a bit odd, but not entirely out of the ordinary for him.” Dr. Hamilton turned and started rummaging through boxes. “If he’s not been heard from yet now, there could be something different to this time. It could be worth trying to contact him or one of his ilk more directly.” He set a few pieces of disparate equipment on the desk.

“That’s more of a plan than either of us had so far.” Lena nodded, letting out a relieved sigh. “Dr. Hamilton, I wonder if I could ask you for one more thing before I go…”

* * *

This time, Lena insisted on leaving Jess behind in Antarctica, to the most extreme protestations she had ever seen from her assistant. In the end though, Lena had to put her foot down. She couldn’t worry about Jess as well if she was going to pull off what she had in mind.

As she stepped through the metal detector, it went wild, as she knew it would, and she slipped into the persona that she knew so many people would expect of her.

“What is _wrong_ with this blasted thing, I’m in a _hurry_!”

“This will only take a moment, Ma’am.” The guard stepped forward with a metal detector wand, and found the pen in her pocket. “We’ll need to send this through the scanner before we can clear you, Ma’am.”

“You need to _scan_ my _pen_?” She gave him a withering glare. 

“Y-yes Ma’am, standard procedure.” 

“This...is a pen.” She clicked it open and closed. “I am the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the _world_. What could I _possibly_ have to gain from sneaking something into a place like this?” She scoffed. “And inside a pen no less.”

“I…” the officer stammered, looking to his companion manning the scanner, who just held up his hands. Getting on the wrong side of a Luthor was clearly not something either of them relished. “I suppose we sh-shouldn’t hold you up anymore.” He stepped aside, and Lena picked her bag up from the output chute of the scanner and proceeded through the inner door.

“Ms. Luthor,” said Warden Vaughn, waiting for her on the other side of the door. “Such a surprise, seeing you again so soon.”

“Yes, I noticed something during my visit with Kara Zor-El,” she said, maintaining her persona. “There were shadows in the room in which I met with her.”

“Shadows.”

“Yes, from the Red Sun emitters.” She straightened up and looked down at him, something that was definitely a skill at this point in her life, given that she was shorter than most people, indeed including Warden Vaughn. “If there are shadows in the room, then there is inadequate coverage by the emitters. And if you’ve been so careless as to neglect the coverage of the repression methods for your two most powerful prisoners, I have to wonder what else may have been missed for carelessness.” She raised an eyebrow. “Or laziness.”

“Ms. Luthor, I assure you,” Vaughn sputtered in reply, but Lena would not allow him to continue.

“I must protect LexCorp, Mr. Vaughn,” she continued, rolling right over him and leading him down the corridor. “If a prisoner were to escape due to lax implementation of our security measures, I cannot allow LexCorp’s reputation to be tarnished.” She turned to face him again. “And that is why I must insist on a full inspection of all implementations of our security measures.”

“All...of them?” Vaughn deflated. “But Ms. Luthor, that will be a full facility inspection. That will take _weeks_.”

“I will _not_ compromise on protecting LexCorp’s standing, Mr. Vaughn.” She took out her pen. “Why don’t we start at the top, with the Red Sun emitters.”

* * *

Lena entered the small cell block behind Warden Vaughn, and immediately shook her head. She could see Kara stifle her surprise, and go back to watching the warden carefully, with more than a little fear. Lena had to suppress the anger such a reaction provoked. She knew Kara did not scare easily. 

In the cell next to Kara’s, however, Lena saw something that made her blood run cold. Kal-El sat on the bed in his own cell, watching every move she and the warden made, with absolutely nothing on his face but cold detachment. Despite the fact that she knew he was without his powers, it remained the penetrating gaze of a being she knew could be capable of examining her at a molecular level and ripping apart any known substance with his bare hands. And he knew her. And he did not like her.

“Ms. Luthor?” Vaughn had noticed her distraction. “Don’t mind him, there’s nothing he can do from there.” Vaughn smiled wickedly. “He knows it, too. And he knows that we can do a lot more to him than he can do to us.”

The truth of this was all over Kal-El’s face and visible body. Kara had shown plenty of evidence of abuse, but it was nothing as compared to what he had clearly endured. Everyone knew Superman’s face, but this man, the Kal-El in the Slab, had been beaten often enough or thoroughly enough to have changed the shape of his face. 

“Rrrright,” said Lena, fighting to regain her composure and her persona. “There and there.” She pointed with her pen. “If the Red Sun emitters are leaving shadows, then the Kryptonite emitters are also lacking full coverage.” She shook her head disapprovingly and fought to not think about how her words and actions would appear to Kal-El. “I have to say, Mr. Vaughn, this is not a good start to our inspection.” She paused, tapping her pen against the clipboard she had been supplied for the inspection. “I seem to be out of ink, give me just a moment please.”

Lena reached into her bag, which had cleared the security inspection without incident, and pulled out a perfectly innocuous ink cartridge. She pushed her clipboard at the nearest guard.

“Hold this,” she commanded, and he fumbled with it, trying to balance it with the Kryptonite-based firearm he carried. Lena tried to open the pen, and gritted her teeth when it would not turn.

“Do you...need a hand with that?” Vaughn raised an eyebrow.

“Nope, almost...there…” Lena gripped it with both fists and twisted, seemingly with all of her might, and the pen flew into pieces, the ink cartridge within breaking open and splattering ink all over her and Vaughn, making both of them yelp in surprise. The guard jumped back, completely missing the small cylinder that had shot out of the top of Lena’s pen and into Kara’s cell.

“My blouse!” Lena despaired, holding ink-covered palms out and looking down at the splotches of ink that indeed covered her blouse. She looked up at the guard, who seemed to be completely out of his element. “Do you know how much this _cost_?” He shook his head dumbly, and as his face was bathed in bright light, Lena grinned. “Worth it.”

“That’s yellow sunlight!” The warden reached for a large button on the nearby wall, but Lena managed to grab his tie and yank him away just as Kara melted the guard’s firearm with her heat vision. There was a tremendous crash as Kara broke the connecting wall between her cell and Kal-El’s, and the bars along with it. Both of them stepped out through the hole, and Lena froze as Kal-El stepped up to her. With a blur of motion, both the guard and Vaughn were on the floor, tied with the bars that had formerly caged Kara and Kal-El.

“I have to say, Ms. Luthor, you were not what I was expecting.” He smiled, and she let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Kal, take this, there’ll be more guards any second.” Kara slipped around him, handing him the small cylinder, still glowing, but much more faintly. She had clearly gotten most of the benefit, but Kal-El closed his fist around the cylinder and breathed, turning to face the door. 

“You came to get me.” Kara took Lena’s hand and squeezed gently.

“Of course. I couldn’t leave you here.” Lena reached up and touched Kara’s face gently, frowning at the injuries that still lingered, and one or two new ones since she’d seen her last.

“I love you,” said Kara softly, and kissed Lena tenderly but insistently.

“Not the best time,” called Kal-El, and Kara broke away, nodding. 

“Right. More later.”

“I don’t know why they haven’t turned on the Kryptonite emitters,” said Kal-El, looking up at the ceiling as they left the cell block.

“Oh,” Lena grinned. “That’s because I insisted we’d be testing everything, including alarms.” She shrugged. “Until they actually hear or see us, they probably won’t really know what’s going on.”

“And they bought that?” Kara marveled at her.

“Never underestimate what an impatient entitled rich person can make someone do just to get rid of them.” Lena chuckled. 

As they rounded the next corner however, a shot rang out down the corridor, and a glowing green pellet exploded in the wall behind Lena. Both Kara and Kal-El winced, and Kara pushed Lena behind her, back around the corner.

“Um, Kara,” muttered Lena, as guards entered the hallway behind them. “This isn’t much better.”

There was nowhere to go, and as both sets of guards raised their guns, Lena grabbed Kara’s hand. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, closing her eyes and waiting for the shots.

They never came.

Lena felt Kara nudge her, and she opened her eyes. The guards seemed to be frozen in place, and there were two more people in the hallway. 

“Mxyzptlk,” Kal-El practically growled. “What do you _want_?” He clenched his fists, and Lena glanced at Kara, who nodded, frowning.

“Oh, sit down, you big oaf,” said the newcomer who was not Mxyzptlk. She waved her hand idly, and Kal-El was forced hard into a sitting position on the floor as easily as if he’d been an action figure.

“Mxyzptlk, we’ve _talked_ about this,” she said, turning to her companion. “You can play all you want in the third dimension, but you have to play _carefully_ with your toys.” She waved her hand around her. “This all has consequences. You can’t just go changing timelines all willy-nilly. If you want to play in a different timeline, get someone to _help_ you switch.”

“Excuse me,” Kara piped up. “What...exactly is going on here?”

“Is that her?” The unknown newcomer turned to Mxyzptlk, who nodded silently, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Yes well, she’s very cute, but she can still only deal with three dimensions. She’d be lost on Zrfff, that wouldn’t have been very fair to her, would it?” Mxyzptlk shook his head.

“Well this is awfully rude,” muttered Kara.

“My name is Gsptlsnz,” she said, turning to finally address the three of them. “I’m from the fifth dimension, just like Mxyzptlk here.” She laid a hand on his shoulder in a very parental way, made all the more bizarre by the fact that they appeared to be the same age. “I’m afraid after he took a liking to you and you rejected him, he seems to have made a few alterations to your timeline.” She shot him a disapproving look, and he shrunk away from her. “Nothing we can’t fix, of course.”

“ _Excuse me_?” Kara exclaimed. “You’re saying this was all because I didn’t want to _marry_ him?”

“Yes, I’m afraid Mxyzptlk still has some growing up to do.” She crossed her arms.

“So...what now,” sighed Kara. “Do we have to get you to spell your names backwards again before this all goes back to normal?” She pointed at the guards behind Mxyzptlk and Gsptlsnz. “If we even survive the next five minutes?”

“Oh dear,” Gsptlsnz turned to Mxyzptlk. “Is _that_ what you told them?” She sighed again when Mxyzptlk wouldn’t meet her gaze. “No, nothing like that. I’ll just fix everything back to the way it was, no memories, no harm done.”

“Excuse me,” objected Lena. “You can’t just erase our memories and say no harm done, this was incredibly traumatic.”

“Oh, I think you’ll find that we can.” She seemed to think for a moment. “Although it’s not so much erasing your memories as rewinding everything and putting it back the way it was.”

“Wait a moment,” said Lena. “Mix...however you say it has to answer for this.”

“That’s fair,” agreed Gsptlsnz. “Mxyzptlk, apologize to the third dimensional beings. And after we fix this, you’re going to have to spend some time in Flatland thinking about what you’ve done.”

“I’m sorry,” said Mxyzptlk sullenly.

Lena opened her mouth to object, but before she could say a word, Gsptlsnz waved a hand, and everything went black.

* * *

Lena’s eyes snapped open a minute before her alarm went off, and she was instantly and completely awake. She sighed, reaching over to turn off the alarm. Turning over again, she grinned at the sleeping face of her girlfriend. She leaned in and kissed Kara gently on the nose.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” she chuckled, as Kara wrinkled her nose, blinking hard. 

“Morning.” Kara yawned, and smiled at Lena. “You look like you’re feeling better this morning.”

“I am.” She nodded. “I think I’ve decided that even though I miss my brother the way I remember him, I can’t change who he is or what he’s become, and if I wished things were different, that’d probably mean I didn’t have you. And I definitely don’t wish for that.”

“I’m glad,” said Kara sleepily, wrapping an arm around Lena. “I want you to be happy.”

“As long as I’ve got you, I will be.”


End file.
